Materials Needed

Instructions

To find your blind spot, take a piece of paper and draw a small X on the right side.

Now, take your ruler and measure about 5 inches to the left of the X.

Draw a dot there about the size of a penny.

Hold the paper in front of you and close your right eye. Look at the X. Even though you're looking at the X you should be able to see the dot out of the corner of your eye.

Slowly move the paper in front of you. Try moving it left and right or closer and farther away. Remember to keep looking at the X. At a certain point, the dot will seem to disappear out of the corner of your eye.

Here's the sci scoop on why this works: On the back of your eye, your retina, you have cells called rods and cones that catch light and send messages to your brain along your nerves, which are like wires. All your nerves go through your retina in just one spot. In this spot, there are no rods and cones. Since you don't have any rods and cones there to catch light, you can't see with that part of your eye.The reason you don't notice your blind spot is because your brain fills in that part of your vision with what it thinks should be there. So when the dot goes into your blind spot, your brain fills in that space with the color of your paper because that's what surrounds it.How big is your blind spot? Will the dot still disappear if it's as big as a quarter? How about if it's a different shape, like a square or a star? Try it out, and send your results to ZOOM.

Nicole, age 13 of Skokie, IL wrote:
I changed the circle to a star along with the "x" to a heart. My results were the same! I concluded that the shape of the objects do not matter, your eyes still react the same.

Zainab, age 11 of Mclean, VA wrote:
Well what happend is when it worked you should make one person look strat ahead but the other person will not walk around. They should stay 2 in away from the person and stick your arm a little like 1 in. And that you have it.

George, age 10 of Altantla, GA wrote:
While I was looking at the x, the circle boused at a green sheet, at blue, it disappered, and orange, still there! Creepy.

Darean, age 10 of Schertz, TX wrote:
I tried your experiment and it really works. I also tried it with a triangle and square. With my right eye open the square disappeared. Now when I open my left eye and close my right the triangle disappears.

Tatiana, age 11 of Miami, FL wrote:
you keep moving it and then it will dissapear its awesome you can do it with all your friends

Jeanelle, age 10 of Miami, FL wrote:
awesome it just dissapeared

Rt, age 10 of Chester Springs, PA wrote:
I had to do a science project and I did this. It was so cool to see the spot disapear!

ZOOM Class, age 13 of Evanston, IL wrote:
We figured out how far our peripheral vision can go. As class we found out that not everyone's vision was different

Cheyenne, age 13 of Nevada, MO wrote:
my rught side turned out ot be my blind side wow nevwer would of guessed!!!

Ssam, age 12 of New York, NY wrote:
wow!!! that was weird... I tried to focus on the x but I wanted to see if it would still be gone but it would reapper!

Leela wrote:
It disapeared! cool

Rifat, age 8 of New York City, NY wrote:
i did it for my science experiment and it worked!!!

Yunah, age 9 of Seoul,Korea wrote:
I held the paper a little less than a foot away from me and then it vanished! This is so amazing! But when I turned to look at the dot, it reappeared!

Michael, age 11 of La Habra, CA wrote:
it was so cool!! it disapeared!

Navya, age 9 of Atlanta, GA wrote:
It worked out awsome!!!

Rachel, age 11 of West Monroe, LA wrote:
my circle vanished. it was awesome.

Autumn, age 12 of OK wrote:
It worked great and it was unbelievable!

Christina, age 10 of San Francisco wrote:
I did want you guys did and instead of a circle I put a star. When I did that it work just as well as the circle.

Mimi, age 14 of Wells, UK wrote:
Wow! Amazing experiment. The dot just vanished at a certain point. Really like it!

Emily, age 11 of Anderson, IN wrote:
It was awesome! It totally worked! I love that project!

Renee wrote:
Wow I tried it and it automaticly disapear but very cool experiment!!!

Melvin, age 13 of Staten Island, NY wrote:
when I tried this and it worked, I was like wow didn't I see this already. So awesome!!!

Martha, age 13 of Corona, CA wrote:
It wuz so amazing... I tryd it with my older cuz... we thought it wouldnt work...but boy wre we surprised when it did...

Yu, age 10 of Singapore wrote:
It disapeared away so quickly!!!

Jailene, age 10 of El Paso, TX wrote:
It was cool and it looked like it really disappeared.

Samantha, age 12 of Wilmington, OH wrote:
it worked the X went away

Fabian, age 14 of Chicago, IL wrote:
I was speechless because it disapeard